Chocolate Dipped Caramel Cream Filled Coconut Shortbread Cookies. These cookies are a bit labor intensive but so incredibly worth making.

I love cookies; coming up with new types, baking them, Eating them. But styling for photographs I am at such a loss sometimes. It literally took me 4 days to take these photos. One day we had partly cloudy skies and the light was changing from dark to bright in my usual photography spot every 3 minutes. Good thing cookies look the same on day 4 as they do on day 1. I told my entire family they couldn't eat ANY of these cookies until I was done photographing them. Such torture.

Then the next day was bright sun and I had only taken photos of one of the cookies so I decided I wanted to take pics of all the cookies in the same light.

But photography isn't my strongest skill and I take FOR-EH-VER to take pics and by the time I got one type done it was time to do things with my kids like prepare dinner, baths bedtime and no more sunshine left sooooo that means try again the next day.

On the third day I had a nice sunny day and took a chance with photographing the cookies all at once again. I get nice light in my entry way but I had to work quickly before the sun moved on in and started to heat up the cookies and melt. Which was starting to happen...

So then starts day 4. I realized that I actually liked the pics I took on day 3 so I waited until the EXACT same time to take pics of the other half of the cookies to catch the same light, since it was another sunny day. FINALLY. I got all the pics I wanted and liked!!

Enough about the photography, let's talk about these cookies now. Coconut shortbread cookies. Caramel cream filling. Some dipped in white chocolate. Some dipped in dark chocolate. All topped with toasted coconut. I had been planning on making these cookies for a while. I originally wanted to fill with just caramel sauce, but the few I tried that with, the caramel just oozed out. So I decided to make a sort of buttercream out of the caramel sauce. It mellowed the caramel flavor a bit, but still the flavors in these cookies are exactly what I wanted. The white chocolate covered cookies are a touch sweeter than the dark chocolate covered ones, but both are really good and not overly sweet.

Yield: 24

Chocolate Dipped Caramel Cream Filled Coconut Shortbread Sandwich Cookies

Name: Chocolate Dipped Caramel Cream Filled Coconut Shortbread Sandwich Cookies
Yield: 24
Ingredients: For the cookies:; 1 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut, toasted; 1 cup sugar; 1 tsp. coconut emulsion or extract; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 3 cups all-purpose flour (regular or gluten free); ¼ teaspoon sea salt; 3 sticks (1 ½) cup cold butter, cut into pieces; For the Caramel cream filling:; Caramel sauce:; 1 stick butter (113g/ ½ cup); 1 cup brown sugar; 2 tablespoons honey; 1 tablespoon vanilla extract; 1 cup heavy cream room temp; ½ teaspoon sea salt; Cream filling:; 2 sticks butter ( 1 cup butter) at room temperature; 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted; ½-3/4 c caramel sauce; Chocolate topping; Milk, dark, white chocolate for melting ( bars not chips, I used Green and Blacks Organics); Toasted coconut

Chocolate Dipped Coconut Caramel Shortbread Sandwich Cookies Yield 2 dozen sandwich cookies Prep 30 min Chill time 30 min to 24 hours Cook time 1 hour for cookies, about 15 min for caramel sauce Assembly and chilling about 1 hour The caramel sauce can be made ahead of time.

Ingredients

For the cookies:
1 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut, toasted
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. coconut emulsion or extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour (regular or gluten free)
¼ teaspoon sea salt
3 sticks (1 ½) cup cold butter, cut into pieces
For the Caramel cream filling:
Caramel sauce:
1 stick butter (113g/ ½ cup)
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream room temp
½ teaspoon sea salt
Cream filling:
2 sticks butter ( 1 cup butter) at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
½-¾ c caramel sauce
Chocolate topping
Milk, dark, white chocolate for melting ( bars not chips, I used Green and Blacks Organics)
Toasted coconut

Instructions

For the cookies

In a large bowl combine toasted coconut, flour, sugar and sea salt. Whisk to combine, and slowly pour into a bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times. Add in the butter one piece at a time while the food processor is running until all is combined. Add in the coconut and vanilla extracts and pulse again. Scrape down the sides when needed and keep pulsing a few seconds at a time until the dough is uniform in texture and the butter is fully incorporated. Transfer back to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in refrigerator for minimum of 30 minto overnight. Preferably overnight. When ready to bake preheat oven to 325 deg. Prep cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicon bake mats.

On a lightly floured surface or between two pieces of parchment paper and roll out a portion of the dough, keeping the rest chilled, to about ¼″ thickness. Cut with 1 ½ cookie cutters (round or whatever shape you want) and carefully place on prepared cookie sheets at least 1 inch apart. Chill for 10 minutes in refrigerator then bake for 15 minutes, or just until bottoms start to brown, don’t over bake. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool. Repeat with the remaining dough portion until all are baked. Cool completely before filling and dipping

For the Caramel Sauce:

In a heave bottomed pan over medium heat melt the butter. Add the brown sugar and honey and stir until dissolved. Attach a candy thermometer and boil the mixture until it reaches 260 deg F orhard ball stage. Remove from the heat and slowly pour in the cream, whisking while pouring, being careful as the mixture will splatter. Add in the vanilla and the salt and return to head and whisk until smooth. Cool completely at room temperature and keep in a sealed glass jar in the refrigerator until ready to use.

For the caramel cream:

In a stand mixer or a bowl and using a hand mixer cream the butter, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add in the powdered sugar and mix again. Slowly add in caramel sauce starting with about ½ cup and mix well. Taste and add more sauce if desired for a deeper caramel flavor. Spread about 1 tablespoon on one cookie and top with the other. Chill until ready to dip in melted chocolate

Cookie Assembly:

Match up the cookies that are closest in size ( some may have changed shaped a little while baking) and spread about 1 tablespoon of the caramel cream in the middle on one cookie and top with the other. Repeat with remaining cookies. Chill or freeze until ready to dip in chocolate

Melt the chocolate in either a double boiler on the stove or in a glass bowl in the microwave. Take a chilled sandwich cookie and dip halfway in the chocolate. Gently scrape off some excess and place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Repeat with other cookies and freeze until set. This may take several batches due to freezer space/amount of cookie sheets. Keep cookies stored in an airtight container, they will keep best chilled or frozen. Serve at room temp.

Notes

The caramel sauce and cream can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until use. Bring the caramel cream to room temperature before using. The dough can be made and chilled up to several days ahead of time. Let thaw to cooler than room temp before rolling and cutting I found that the chocolate firmed up faster when I dipped frozen cookies. When I was dipping them in the white chocolate, the chocolate was spreading out onto the wax paper when the cookies were room temperature and I was having to re-dip them. So melt the chocolate, dip frozen cookies and then immediately place on the wax paper lined tray in the freezer to set it up quicker